Lessons from the removal of lead from gasoline for controlling other environmental pollutants: A case study from New Zealand

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>It took over two decades to achieve the removal of leaded gasoline in this country. This was despite international evidence and original research conducted in New Zealand on the harm to child cognitive function and behaviour from lead exposure.</p> <p>Objective</p> <p>To identify lessons from the New Zealand experience of removing leaded gasoline that are potentially relevant to the control of other environmental pollutants.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>From the available documentation, we suggest a number of reasons for the slow policy response to the leaded gasoline hazard. These include: (1) industry power in the form of successful lobbying by the lead additive supplier, Associated Octel; (2) the absence of the precautionary principle as part of risk management policy; and (3) weak policymaking machinery that included: (a) the poor use of health research evidence (from both NZ and internationally), as well as limited use of expertise in academic and non-governmental organisations; (b) lack of personnel competent in addressing technically complex issues; and (c) diffusion of responsibility among government agencies.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>There is a need for a stronger precautionary approach by policymakers when considering environmental pollutants. Politicians, officials and health workers need to strengthen policymaking processes and effectively counter the industry tactics used to delay regulatory responses.</p

Benefit of enactment over oral repetition of verbal instruction does not require additional working memory during encoding

For this research, we used a dual-task approach to investigate the involvement of working memory in following written instructions. In two experiments, participants read instructions to perform a series of actions on objects and then recalled the instructions either by spoken repetition or performance of the action sequence. Participants engaged in concurrent articulatory suppression, backward-counting, and spatial-tapping tasks during the presentation of the instructions, in order to disrupt the phonological-loop, central-executive, and visuospatial-sketchpad components of working memory, respectively. Recall accuracy was substantially disrupted by all three concurrent tasks, indicating that encoding and retaining verbal instructions depends on multiple components of working memory. The accuracy of recalling the instructions was greater when the actions were performed than when the instructions were repeated, and this advantage was unaffected by the concurrent tasks, suggesting that the benefit of enactment over oral repetition does not cost additional working memory resource

Predator foraging altitudes reveal the structure of aerial insect communities

The atmosphere is populated by a diverse array of dispersing insects and their predators. We studied aerial insect communities by tracking the foraging altitudes of an avian insectivore, the Purple Martin (Progne subis). By attaching altitude loggers to nesting Purple Martins and collecting prey delivered to their nestlings, we determined the flight altitudes of ants and other insects. We then tested hypotheses relating ant body size and reproductive ecology to flight altitude. Purple Martins flew up to 1,889 meters above ground, and nestling provisioning trips ranged up to 922 meters. Insect communities were structured by body size such that species of all sizes flew near the ground but only light insects flew to the highest altitudes. Ant maximum flight altitudes decreased by 60% from the lightest to the heaviest species. Winged sexuals of social insects (ants, honey bees, and termites) dominated the Purple Martin diet, making up 88% of prey individuals and 45% of prey biomass. By transferring energy from terrestrial to aerial food webs, mating swarms of social insects play a substantial role in aerial ecosystems. Although we focus on Purple Martins and ants, our combined logger and diet method could be applied to a range of aerial organisms.This work was funded by US NSF award IDBR-1014891 to ESB, and a US NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, OU Alumni Fellowship, OU Biological Station Graduate Summer Research Fellowship, and George Miksch Sutton Avian Research Scholarship to JAH.Ye

Obeticholic acid for the treatment of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis: interim analysis from a multicentre, randomised, placebo-controlled phase 3 trial

BACKGROUND Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a common type of chronic liver disease that can lead to cirrhosis. Obeticholic acid, a farnesoid X receptor agonist, has been shown to improve the histological features of NASH. Here we report results from a planned interim analysis of an ongoing, phase 3 study of obeticholic acid for NASH. METHODS In this multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, adult patients with definite NASH, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) activity score of at least 4, and fibrosis stages F2-F3, or F1 with at least one accompanying comorbidity, were randomly assigned using an interactive web response system in a 1:1:1 ratio to receive oral placebo, obeticholic acid 10 mg, or obeticholic acid 25 mg daily. Patients were excluded if cirrhosis, other chronic liver disease, elevated alcohol consumption, or confounding conditions were present. The primary endpoints for the month-18 interim analysis were fibrosis improvement (≥1 stage) with no worsening of NASH, or NASH resolution with no worsening of fibrosis, with the study considered successful if either primary endpoint was met. Primary analyses were done by intention to treat, in patients with fibrosis stage F2-F3 who received at least one dose of treatment and reached, or would have reached, the month 18 visit by the prespecified interim analysis cutoff date. The study also evaluated other histological and biochemical markers of NASH and fibrosis, and safety. This study is ongoing, and registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02548351, and EudraCT, 20150-025601-6. FINDINGS Between Dec 9, 2015, and Oct 26, 2018, 1968 patients with stage F1-F3 fibrosis were enrolled and received at least one dose of study treatment; 931 patients with stage F2-F3 fibrosis were included in the primary analysis (311 in the placebo group, 312 in the obeticholic acid 10 mg group, and 308 in the obeticholic acid 25 mg group). The fibrosis improvement endpoint was achieved by 37 (12%) patients in the placebo group, 55 (18%) in the obeticholic acid 10 mg group (p=0·045), and 71 (23%) in the obeticholic acid 25 mg group (p=0·0002). The NASH resolution endpoint was not met (25 [8%] patients in the placebo group, 35 [11%] in the obeticholic acid 10 mg group [p=0·18], and 36 [12%] in the obeticholic acid 25 mg group [p=0·13]). In the safety population (1968 patients with fibrosis stages F1-F3), the most common adverse event was pruritus (123 [19%] in the placebo group, 183 [28%] in the obeticholic acid 10 mg group, and 336 [51%] in the obeticholic acid 25 mg group); incidence was generally mild to moderate in severity. The overall safety profile was similar to that in previous studies, and incidence of serious adverse events was similar across treatment groups (75 [11%] patients in the placebo group, 72 [11%] in the obeticholic acid 10 mg group, and 93 [14%] in the obeticholic acid 25 mg group). INTERPRETATION Obeticholic acid 25 mg significantly improved fibrosis and key components of NASH disease activity among patients with NASH. The results from this planned interim analysis show clinically significant histological improvement that is reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit. This study is ongoing to assess clinical outcomes. FUNDING Intercept Pharmaceuticals

From Classroom to Online Lessons: Adapted Methodology for Teachers

Any private teacher, school, college, or academic institution might suddenly be challenged to move from an onsite (face-to-face) methodology to an online one. This drastic, dramatic change can happen overnight, as proven by the response to the rapidly spreading Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), commonly known as COVID-19. Between March and April 2020, around half of the world’s educational institutions found themselves closing their doors and completely shutting down all conceivable classroom activities. Fortunately, educators found their way around this partial suspension by swiftly switching to an online format. This entailed moving their classes from the typical face-to-face setting over to the Internet, overnight. For the most part, teachers could count on the help and technical support of their home institutions. Sometimes, however, teachers felt somehow forced to figure out by themselves how to carry out such a colossal transition. Independently of the path taken, it is worth dissecting and analysing this type of contingency, the associated undertaken procedures, adopted strategies, and even the necessary stage tricks as well. In this article, we summarise the educational standards related to e-learning and review the theoretical background and research literature around online teaching. We also present the most recent advances in the aforementioned fields. It may seem that the methodologies associated with classroom and online teaching do not have much in common but, as we will show, there are plenty of overlapping areas and large bits of knowledge that can be transferred from the former to the latter. In the few cases where this is not possible, we also itemise the possible solutions

Limitations of nerve repair of segmental defects using acellular conduits

The authors present the case of a 20-year-old man who, 3 months after his initial injury, underwent repair of a 1.7-cm defect of the ulnar nerve at the wrist; repair was performed with an acellular nerve allograft. Given the absence of clinical or electrophysiological recovery at 8 months postrepair, the patient underwent reexploration, excision of the "regenerated cable," and rerepair of the ulnar nerve with sural nerve autografts. Histology of the cable demonstrated minimal axonal regeneration at the midpoint of the repair. At the 6- and 12-month follow-ups of the sural nerve graft repair, clinical and electrophysiological evidence of both sensory and motor reinnervation of the ulnar nerve and associated hand muscles was demonstrated. In this report, the authors describe a single case of failed acellular nerve allograft and correlate the results with basic science and human studies reporting length and diameter limitations in human nerve repair utilizing grafts or conduits devoid of viable Schwann cells

Cylindric Kleene Lattices for Program Construction

Cylindric algebras have been developed as an algebraisation of equational first order logic. We adapt them to cylindric Kleene lattices and their variants and present relational and relational fault models for these. This allows us to encode frames and local variable blocks, and to derive Morgan’s refinement calculus as well as an algebraic Hoare logic for while programs with assignment laws. Our approach thus opens the door for algebraic calculations with program and logical variables instead of domain-specific reasoning over concrete models of the program store. A refinement proof for a small program is presented as an example